JPH06269462A - Microscopic remote observation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the effect of the change and difference in each hardware structure of plural terminals. CONSTITUTION:An information processor 1 manages the information of hardware to be used by a transmission terminal as a system structure file, sending it from the transmission terminal to an observation terminal. An information processor 19 automatically conforms the processing processes of the transmission terminal and the observation terminal based on the contents of the system structure file. Further, when plural distributed transmission terminals are connected to the observation terminals for making communication, the connection is automatically switched for each of transmission terminals based on the information of the system structure file.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote observation system for microscopes that enables remote observation of microscopic images, particularly microscopic pathological observation in the medical field.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in the medical field, for example, pathological diagnosis using a microscope has been an essential diagnostic item. Then, the microscope image is transmitted from the remote hospital to the university,
A system in which a pathologist at a university makes a diagnosis based on the microscope image is also proposed.

Further, in the conventional microscope remote observation system, since the observation terminal and the transmission terminal are communication by connecting a certain limited one facility to each other, the system processing is performed in consideration of only the hardware configuration of the transmission terminal. We were able to build the entire system simply by considering the process.

[0004]

However, when the number of transmitting terminals is increased by using the observation terminal as a center system and the terminals are installed in a plurality of facilities and the connection is switched for each facility terminal, the hardware of each transmitting terminal is used. It was a prerequisite that the structure was the same up to the objective lens.
Therefore, when trying to realize the system as described above, if there is a slight change in the hardware configuration, for example, if the objective lens of one magnification of the transmission terminal is changed to another magnification, it will be changed from the observation terminal. It is possible to instruct to capture an image only at the magnification before the operation. Therefore, it affects the process of the entire system including both terminals, and in order to solve this, it is necessary to prepare a processing process individually between each facility or to change the processing process of the entire system on a large scale. It was

Further, as a problem caused by changing the hardware configuration, the processing contents of the transmitting terminal may change depending on whether the microscope type is fully automatic or manual, or if the combination of objective lenses is changed, If the magnification and the magnification on the side of the sending terminal are not compatible, or if the TV camera or the eyepiece for the camera is changed, the range in which the microscope image can be captured depends on the effective diameter of the image pickup element of the TV camera or the magnification of the eyepiece for the camera. Changing was also a problem.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a microscope remote observation system which is not affected by a change in the hardware configuration of one facility or a difference in the hardware configuration of each facility. To provide.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, in the microscope remote observation system of the present invention, a transmission terminal that captures and transmits a macro image and a microscope image that are the entire image of a sample, and the transmission terminal In a microscope remote observation system having an observation terminal for receiving and displaying an image to be transmitted and a communication line connecting the transmission terminal and the observation terminal, information of hardware used by the transmission terminal is managed as a system configuration file. Management means, transmission means for transmitting the system configuration file managed by the management means from the transmission terminal to the observation terminal, and the transmission terminal and the observation terminal based on the contents of the system configuration file transmitted by the transmission means. And a process adapting means for automatically adapting a treatment process.

[0008]

That is, in the microscope remote observation system of the present invention, the management means manages the information of the hardware used in the transmission terminal as a system configuration file, and the transmission means manages the system configuration file managed by the management means. When transmitting from the transmitting terminal to the observing terminal, the process adapting means automatically adapts the processing processes of the transmitting terminal and the observing terminal based on the contents of the system configuration file. Further, when the communication control means connects a plurality of transmission terminals distributed to the observation terminals for communication, the processing process is automatically switched for each transmission terminal based on the information in the system configuration file and communication is performed. I do.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a microscope remote observation system according to all the embodiments of the present invention.

As shown in the figure, this system is roughly divided into a transmitting terminal and an observing terminal. And
This transmission terminal is provided with an information processing device 1 for performing overall control, and the information processing device 1 includes a CRT.
Display 2, keyboard 3, mouse 4, frame memory 5, electric XY stage 9, objective lens revolver 1
0, the communication control unit 18 is connected respectively. Further, a TV monitor 6 and a video signal switching device 7 are connected to the frame memory 5, and the video signal switching device 7 is connected to TV cameras 11 and 13 arranged in a microscope 8. The TV camera 13 is provided with a macro lens 14, and is installed on a stand 17 having an XY stage 15 and a light source 16. In addition, the TV camera 11 is provided with a camera eyepiece lens 12.

On the other hand, the observation terminal is provided with an information processing section 19 for controlling the entire operation.
A CRT display 20, a keyboard 21, a mouse 22, a frame memory 23, and a communication control unit 25 are connected to the device 9. The frame memory 23 is T
It is connected to the V monitor 24. The communication control unit 25 on the observation terminal side is connected to the communication control unit 18 on the transmission terminal side via the ISDN digital public line.

In such a configuration, the information processing devices 1 and 19 control each terminal, and the CRT displays 2 and 20 display the system status and operation menu to the observer who operates the system. To do. The frame memories 5 and 23 digitally convert an NTSC television (TV) signal to produce digital image information, and the TV monitors 6 and 24 are TV cameras 11 and 13 switched by the video signal switch 7. The observation image photographed by any of the above is displayed. Further, the mice 4 and 22 are used by the observer to select a menu or specify an image area. Then, both terminals communicate with each other via the communication control units 18 and 25 connected by the communication line. The process of transferring the system configuration file by the microscope remote observation system of the present invention will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, both the observation terminal and the transmission terminal are powered on, the system is started by activating each program, and both terminals are activated (step S101).

Subsequently, the transmitting terminal captures the entire image of the slide glass by the TV camera 13 and the macro lens 14 provided in the macro stand 17 in order to capture the image to be transferred first. Then, the TV camera 11 and the objective lens 10 of the microscope 8 capture an enlarged image of the image. Further, the number of images required for observation is captured and stored in the information processing device 1 as an image file. At this time, the image capturing operation is performed by the keyboard 3 or the mouse 4 based on the message and menu displayed on the CRT display 102. During this time, the observation terminal is in the state of waiting for connection of the communication line (step S102). When the acquisition of the initial image is completed in this way, the transmission terminal and the observation terminal are brought into a communication state by connecting a communication line (step S103).

Then, when the ISDN line is in the communication state, the transmission terminal transmits the system configuration file stored in advance in the information processing apparatus 1 to the observation terminal as the communication control unit 1.
Transfer via ISDN line via 8 and 25. Since the contents of this file are not changed in the communication state, it is necessary to transfer only once for each communication. Therefore, immediately before the transfer of other image files, the file is transferred immediately after the line connection. Then, when the observing terminal receives the file, the observing terminal takes out the necessary data in the form of the file or once copying from the file to another storage area to retain the information and proceed with the observing procedure (step S104). .

When this file transfer is completed, observation is started at the observation terminal. For the observation, the image file stored in the information processing apparatus 19 by file transfer is observed by the keyboard 21 and the mouse 22 according to the message and menu displayed on the CRT display 20, and is displayed on the TV monitor 24 for observation. During this time, the transmitting terminal is in a waiting state for the capture designation information of the image to be captured next (step S105). Next, the observation terminal selects whether to capture more images based on the transferred images (step S107). If the image capture is designated, the process proceeds to step S108, and if not, the process proceeds to step S110. During this time, the transmitting terminal is in the same state as in step S205.

When further image capture is designated by the observation terminal, the designation of the type of the image to be captured next, the magnification of the captured image, the position, the compression ratio, etc. is repeatedly executed for the desired number of sheets. During this period, the transmission terminal receives the capture designation information one by one through the ISDN line by the synchronization operation, and when the capture designation of the observation terminal is completed, the capture of the image based on the designation is started (step S108).

Upon completion of this capture designation, the observation terminal side waits for file transfer, and the transmission terminal captures an image based on the information designated in step S108 in the same procedure as in step S102 (this time). Step S109). On the other hand, if the next capture is not specified in step S207, the communication is terminated, the line is released,
The observation is finished (step S110).

Observation is performed by repeating the operations from step S105 to step S109 described above until the capture designation is stopped in step S107. Here, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the contents of the system configuration file transferred by the above-described operation. The system configuration file is for storing the configuration information of the hardware installed in the transmission terminal and notifying the observation terminal of the contents.

In FIG. 3, D1 is information relating to the transmitting terminal identification number, and when a plurality of transmitting terminals are connected,
It stores a serial number for distinguishing which terminal the file belongs to. Further, D2 is information regarding the microscope, and stores the type of fully automatic type or manual type.
For example, the fully automatic type is recorded with a numerical flag such as "0" and the manual type is set with "1". D3 is information regarding the objective lens 10, and stores information such as the type of objective lens, the magnification, and the number of used objective lenses installed in the microscope. For example, regarding the type and magnification of the lens, a number is preliminarily given as a list of the type and magnification of the lens that is supposed to be used, the number is recorded in the system configuration file, and when read, it corresponds to the list. There are lens types and recording methods that convert to magnification. At this time, as the number of pieces used, a real number is recorded as it is as numerical data. D4 is information about the TV cameras 11 and 13, and stores the type of TV camera, the size of the image sensor, and the like. This is also D
The same recording method as in 3 is used. D5 is magnification information of the eyepiece lens 12 for the camera, and after D6, it is composed of data related to each equipment such as other hardware information.

Based on the above operation procedure, as the first embodiment, the discrimination of the microscope type at the time of capturing an image by using the data D2 of the system configuration file will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. This FIG. 4 shows the process of image capturing, and in step S102 of FIG.
The procedure of 109 is shown in more detail.

In FIG. 4, when the image capturing is instructed, the transmitting terminal retrieves the data D2 regarding the microscope from the storage area of the system configuration file or a copy of the file (step S201). Then, based on this data D2, it is determined whether the microscope is a fully automatic type or a manual type (step S202).

When the data D2 is of a fully automatic type, the information processing apparatus 1 instructs the microscope 8 to objective lens 10
A command code for instructing switching, focusing, brightness adjustment, and the like is sent to control the microscope (step S20).
3). After this control, if the return code from the microscope 8 is normal, the process automatically moves to image capturing, and if the code indicates an abnormality, the process returns to step S203 to perform control again (step S204). On the other hand, when the data D2 is of a manual type, in order to perform operations such as switching of the objective lens 10, focusing, and brightness adjustment for a person who operates the microscope 8, the CRT display 2 as shown in FIG. A message is displayed (step S205). When the adjustment work of the microscope is completed, the "confirmation" menu shown in FIG. 5 is designated by the mouse 4 to move to image acquisition (step S206).

Then, in steps S203 and 204,
Alternatively, the image obtained by the procedure of steps S205 and 206 is converted from the frame memory 5 into an image file and the image is captured (step S207). As described above, in the first embodiment, it is possible to perform processing for each microscope type by using the microscope information of the system configuration file.

Next, as a second embodiment, the magnification designation at the time of image designation by using the data D3 of the system configuration file will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 7 shows the procedure for specifying the magnification in step S108 of FIG. 2 in more detail. First, when the designation of image capture is executed, the observation terminal selects the image capture position, the capture compression rate, and the magnification of the captured image. Therefore, the data D3 regarding the objective lens 10 is taken out from the storage area of the system configuration file or a copy of the file (step S301).

Then, based on this data D3, the magnification and the number of the objective lenses 10 equipped in the transmission terminal are obtained, and the extracted contents are 10 times, 20 times, 40 times, for example.
If three times are registered, the contents shown in FIG. 6 are displayed on the menu screen as the designated magnifications (step S302). Further, the menu shown in the figure is designated by the mouse 4 to select the magnification (step S30).
3). Then, the designated magnification selected by the menu designation is immediately sent to the observation terminal by the synchronization operation to acquire the selected magnification (step S304).

As described above, in the second embodiment, by using the information regarding the objective lens of the system configuration file, even if the combination of objective lenses used for each terminal is different, it is always equipped. The lens magnification can be specified.

Next, as a third embodiment, a procedure for changing the mesh division size at the time of capturing a macro image (step S101) by using the data D4 and D5 of the system configuration file will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. .
The mesh is a method of collectively specifying the position and area of the image to be captured by the microscope from the entire (macro) image as shown in FIG. 9, and is one angle of view for dividing the mesh, that is, on the entire image. The designated area is divided into sizes according to the angle of view based on the size of one image to be captured by the microscope.

In FIG. 8, when the initial image is taken in, the transmitting terminal first takes in the entire image of the slide glass as shown in FIG. 10 by the TV camera 13 and the macro lens 14 mounted on the macro stand 17 (step S401).

Next, as shown in FIG. 11, two points (two points on the diagonal line at the upper left and the lower right) 30 and 31 for displaying the mesh on the captured whole image are designated by the mouse 4,
The area where the mesh is applied, that is, the area 32 to be taken in is designated (step S402). In order to divide the area between these two points into appropriate sizes, the X length and Y length of the reference angle of view are calculated (step S403). At this time,
As shown in FIG. 12, the reference angle of view size is the magnification and T of the objective lens 10 of the microscope equipped in the transmission terminal.
It changes depending on the size of the image pickup device of the V camera 11 and the magnification of the camera eyepiece lens 12. Therefore, for example, the size of the image pickup element of the TV camera 11 is 1/2 [inch], the magnification of the eyepiece for the camera is 2.5 times, and the magnification of the objective lens 10 of the microscope is 2 times as the standard setting. The range actually projected by the microscope is measured under this condition, and this is determined in advance as the reference angle of view.

Next, in order to calculate the angle of view in the current equipment with respect to this reference angle of view, a system configuration file,
Or T from the storage area of the copied file
The data D4 regarding the V camera and the data D5 regarding the eyepiece for the camera are taken out, and the effective diameter is obtained from the size of the camera image pickup element and the magnification of the eyepiece for the camera (step S404). This effective diameter is calculated by the following equation and represents the range in which an image can be captured. Effective diameter = Image sensor size x Eyepiece magnification for camera

Then, when the effective diameter in the reference setting assumed in step S403 is used as a reference, even if each transmitting terminal uses different size image pickup devices or lenses, a ratio to the reference effective diameter is obtained. Then, the size of the angle of view can be obtained.

For example, as shown in FIG. 13, step S
If the effective diameter of the lens and image sensor assumed to be the reference in 403 is “1” and a certain terminal has a combination of the image sensor 2/3 [inch] and the camera eyepiece 3.3 times, Indicated by.

[0033]

[Equation 1]

This value is applied to the reference view angles X and Y to obtain the view angle size. That is, in this case, the standard effective diameter value is "1".
The ratio of the angle of view is "1.76", and the view angle size is larger than the reference view angle size. The length between two points is divided by this angle of view size to obtain a number that can be divided (step S4).
05).

Then, according to the number of divisions, the TV monitor 6
From the coordinates of two points on the screen, the divided coordinates when dividing into the area are obtained. Also, based on the coordinates, as shown in FIG.
The mesh is displayed on the screen of the V monitor 6 (step S
406).

Further, after confirming the displayed mesh and selecting a menu on the screen of the CRT display 2 with the mouse 4, if the mesh designation is to be redone, the process returns to step S402 and the above procedure is redone. S408 is executed (step S407).

Then, the coordinates at the upper left and the coordinates at the lower right of each angle of view divided by the mesh are obtained, and the center coordinate of one angle of view is obtained from the coordinates to obtain the position at which the microscope image is captured. The designation of the capture position is completed (step S408).

As described above, in the third embodiment, by using the information of the TV camera and the eyepiece for the camera of the system configuration file, even if the camera or the lens used for each terminal is different, it is always attached. Borders and meshes that match the effective diameter can be displayed.

As described in detail above, in the microscope remote observation system of the present invention, the processing process is changed by changing the hardware configuration of one facility, or the processing process is changed by the difference of the hardware configuration of each facility. By automatically executing each communication, it is possible to realize a microscope remote observation system having a high degree of freedom regarding hardware and excellent maintainability.

In the above embodiment, the transmitting terminal and the observing terminal are connected to each other in a one-to-one manner. However, this may be a plural-to-one or a one-to-many or a plural-to-many network configuration. The processing process can be adapted by transmitting a system configuration file between the transmitting terminal in communication and the observing terminal.

[0041]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a microscope remote observation system which is not affected by a change in the hardware configuration of one facility or a difference in the hardware configuration of each facility.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a microscope remote observation system according to all embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a procedure for transferring a system configuration file by the microscope remote observation system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the contents of a system configuration file transferred by the operation procedure shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the first embodiment, that is, the determination of the microscope type at the time of capturing an image by using the system configuration file information D2.

5 is a diagram showing a message displayed on the CRT display 2. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state in which a specifiable magnification is displayed on a menu screen.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining an operation of the second embodiment, that is, a magnification designation at the time of designating an image by using the system configuration file information D3.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation of the third embodiment, that is, a procedure for changing the mesh division size at the time of capturing a macro image by using the system configuration file information D4 and D5.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining mesh division of an image.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an overall image of a slide glass.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a state in which two points for displaying a mesh are designated by the mouse 4.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a reference view angle size.

FIG. 13 is a diagram comparing the view angle size and the reference view angle size.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a state in which a mesh is displayed on the screen of the TV monitor 6.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Information processing device, 2 ... CRT display, 3 ... Keyboard, 4 ... Mouse, 5 ... Frame memory, 6 ... TV monitor, 7 ... Video signal switcher, 8 ... Microscope, 9 ... Motorized XY stage, 10 ... Objective lens revolver, 11 ...
TV camera, 12 ... Eyepiece for camera, 13 ... TV camera, 14 ... Macro lens, 15 ... XY stage, 1
6 ... Light source, 17 ... Stand, 18 ... Communication control unit, 19 ...
Information processing unit, 20 ... CRT display, 21 ... Keyboard, 22 ... Mouse, 23 ... Frame memory, 24 ... T
V monitor, 25 ... Communication control unit.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kiyofumi Watanabe 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside Olympus Optical Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A transmission terminal that captures and transmits a macro image and a microscope image that are the entire image of a specimen, an observation terminal that receives and displays an image transmitted from the transmission terminal, and the transmission terminal and the observation terminal are connected. In the microscope remote observation system having a communication line, the management means for managing the information of the hardware used in the transmission terminal as a system configuration file, and the system configuration file managed by the management means from the transmission terminal to the observation terminal. And a process adapting unit for automatically adapting processing processes of the transmitting terminal and the observing terminal based on the contents of the system configuration file transmitted by the transmitting unit. Microscope remote observation system.